Go lean

As you might expect, I enjoyed Jessie Kissinger's "How To Eat Raw Meat Safely," which went up yesterday, a lot. A lot of raw meat gets eaten in the Ozersky houseshold. Even my dog eats raw meat! And you can rest assured that I have no worries about any health issues coming up. I've been eating undercooked commodity meat for years, and I'm not dead yet. But I do think that there are some useful tips Eat Like a Man readers who want to get into raw meat ought to bear in mind.

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Go lean

If ever there was a time to eat lean cuts like round or sirloin, this is it. The biggest drawback with lean meat is its texture; mincing, coarse or fine, removes this, and give you the ability to taste the actual flavor of the meat, which is actually much better than its price might suggest. (Cuts like the leg, that do a lot of work, tend to have the kind of muscular development that tastes good.) The rib steak in the picture looks great, but you really don't want to cut up steak of that caliber; it's not that much better, and the cold fat is a little grody even for me.

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Don't skimp on olive oil

Speaking of fat, since there is typically little of it in lean cuts, whether of beef, veal, bison, elk, and other typical tartare meats, plan on using a fair amount of good olive oil. I never get a chance to use good olive oil in a way that really takes advantage of it — you're not supposed to cook with it, and I don't eat salad — so tartare is an ideal application. I only use California olive oil; other than the single-estate house olive oils at Fairway, which are the best on the market, I don't trust any imported olive oil. They don't give you the good stuff. California olive oil has gotten to the point that California wine did in the '70s; it's as good as any in the world, and a hell of a lot cheaper. The best one, in my experience, is Olio Santo, not coincidentally from Napa Valley.

Use your knife

While we are on the subject of great things you don't get to use enough, now is the time to bust out your best knife. Tartare needs to be cut by hand; if you put it in a food processor of any kind, you aren't making tartare; you're making a meat daquiri. I prefer it medium coarse, with slivers comparable in size to cole slaw or carrot salad. This is a job for your sharpest knife. I use my beloved 8" all-carbon Bob Kramer chef's knife.

Calling all mushrooms

No tartare is meant to live in isolation; a social creature, it needs the company of something else to help keep it happy. I use whatever mushroom is good at the time, but my preferred ones are chanterelles or porcinis. These need to be cut up as fine as you can manage; they are not co-star as much as condiment. You don't have to use mushrooms; you can use ginger or black garlic or whatever seems to go.

Salt well

Always. Everywhere. With the best salt you can get your hands on.

A raw egg at the end

It's optional only in the sense that pregnant women are supposed to avoid them, but even they ought to eat raw eggs in my opinion. Of course, I'm not a doctor.

Move beyond beef

I like beef tartare best, but I also think it's best for lean game meats like bison, elk, ostrich, and venison, including the hearts of these animals. If by some chance you can get your hands on some rose veal, make tartare out of it right away. Especially in summer. Which is to say now, immediately, tonight.